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I for one am extremely sad if he's going out this way. Put aside team loyalties for a minute and even perhaps the fact that he only throws one pitch.
The man was an incredibly successful closer, the best in my lifetime for certain.
Actually I should confess - my wife comes from a family of Yankees fans and she roots for them as well. I have developed a soft-spot for the Yankees and I even went with her to see Yankee Stadium before it closed. We were at the third-to-last regular season game ever played there.
The stadium was a pit compared to PNC park but it gave me chills to be there. Derek Jeter - for all the crap he takes from the sabermetrics guys - is like a God there. I used to be one of those guys who thought the Yankees were stupid for moving ARod to 3B. Then I went to see the team and it was obvious that ARod couldn't hold Jeter's jockstrap as far as the crowd was concerned. There was a kind of a buzz or an electricity when he was at bat.
But Rivera was the same as Jeter. It was impossible not to get swept up in the emotions when Rivera came out to close the game down. You knew it was over. Everyone knew it was over. I know he's not technically automatic but that didn't even matter. He was amazing.
Interesting asides - The Orioles started a guy named Radhames Liz who could throw 99 mph but couldn't control the ball. He was a career 6+ ERA guy but he threw well that game. The reason I remember him is because my wife's cousin was actually engaged to him earlier that year. (she broke it off)
She used to hang out with him and his friends and one of his best friends was none other than Robinson Cano. Cano took Liz yard in that game. I bet that there weren't an awful lot of fans there who knew that those two hung out together but I thought it was pretty fucking sweet to see Cano go head to head against his buddy and take him to the woodshed.
The man was an incredibly successful closer, the best in my lifetime for certain.
Actually I should confess - my wife comes from a family of Yankees fans and she roots for them as well. I have developed a soft-spot for the Yankees and I even went with her to see Yankee Stadium before it closed. We were at the third-to-last regular season game ever played there.
The stadium was a pit compared to PNC park but it gave me chills to be there. Derek Jeter - for all the crap he takes from the sabermetrics guys - is like a God there. I used to be one of those guys who thought the Yankees were stupid for moving ARod to 3B. Then I went to see the team and it was obvious that ARod couldn't hold Jeter's jockstrap as far as the crowd was concerned. There was a kind of a buzz or an electricity when he was at bat.
But Rivera was the same as Jeter. It was impossible not to get swept up in the emotions when Rivera came out to close the game down. You knew it was over. Everyone knew it was over. I know he's not technically automatic but that didn't even matter. He was amazing.
Interesting asides - The Orioles started a guy named Radhames Liz who could throw 99 mph but couldn't control the ball. He was a career 6+ ERA guy but he threw well that game. The reason I remember him is because my wife's cousin was actually engaged to him earlier that year. (she broke it off)
She used to hang out with him and his friends and one of his best friends was none other than Robinson Cano. Cano took Liz yard in that game. I bet that there weren't an awful lot of fans there who knew that those two hung out together but I thought it was pretty fucking sweet to see Cano go head to head against his buddy and take him to the woodshed.
